My new Samsung HDTV: Apps make a difference

Earlier this month, I made up my mind to take the plunge and buy my very first HDTV. AsI wrote on Feb. 4, I had been watching a 32-inch Toshiba CRT since 2003. It was a great set with an excellent picture, but the time had come to say ¡adiós! to analog.

In that same entry, I asked the TechBlog community to provide me with suggestions on what to buy and how to buy it. You folks came through, bigtime! (And if you’re in the market for a new HDTV, you should spend some time readingthe comments from that entry.)

And thus, on Feb. 15, a delivery guy arrived with the 46-inch Samsung LCD HDTV I’d purchased from Amazon.com. He also helped me tote the 130-pound Toshiba downstairs to a guest room, something I’d been dreading. Thanks, dude!

Now, the model I bought – an LN46C650 – came with a feature I originally didn’t want. As with many newer HDTVs, this Samsung is Internet-enabled. It comes with the ability to run software programs, just as with a traditional computer or smartphone. Samsung, clearly riding a buzzword, calls them apps.

I wasn’t interested in this feature for a couple of reasons. First, I primarily made the leap to HDTV so I could review the increasing number of products designed to stream video content to your TV. Most of the new ones require an HDMI connection. Yeah, an HDTV picture is great – fantastic, on this set! – but it wasn’t my primary reason for needing one.

Second, I already have a Roku. This nifty box is one of the best values in home entertainment, particularly combined with Netflix’s Watch Instantly feature. You can buy a Roku device for as little as $60 (and it works with non-HD devices, too!). I figured with this, I wouldn’t use the Samsung apps for video viewing.

It turns out I was wrong.

Because the apps are built into the set, you use the Samsung’s own remote to navigate them. This makes switching between traditional TV and Internet TV much easier. It’s a long way from being seamless – you still have to launch most of the apps from a staging screen where their icons are displayed.

But Samsung’s intuitive remote helps – there’s a simple Internet button – and once you’re in the apps, they’re mostly simple to use.

Before I go on, a little bit about the setup process . . .

This Samsung TV, like a lot of current models, has a very simple setup process that uses clear illustrations onscreen to help you make sure you have your connections set up properly. (This model has 4 HDMI connections, two component inputs and one composite input.) It also comes with clear, printed instructions for those who’d rather have paper.

I was all prepared to spend time calibrating the picture on the HDTV, but I’m very happy with it and haven’t felt the need. However, if you’re bent on tweaking, it comes with two "Expert Patterns" in the advanced settings for tweaking both brightness/contrast and colors.

(If you want tutorials on calibrating an HDTV, check out the excellent video series at Revision3’s HDNation. Be sure to watch Parts One, Two and Three.)

My one reservation about the picture has little to do with the set, but rather with AT&T’s U-verse, my cable provider. HD signals are compressed to save bandwidth, and this process can result in pixilation and other visual artifacts. I see this a lot in live sports. I know it’s not just me, because I’ve noticed this effect on TVs at AT&T’s retail stores – you’ve gotta figure the company that sells U-verse would make it look as good as it could in its own house.

I also don’t see the artifacts as much while streaming HD movies over the Net . . . which brings me back to the Samsung’s online capabilities.

This model doesn’t have a built-in Wi-Fi adapter. It does have an Ethernet port, but if you want to go wireless, you’ll need to pick up Samsung’s LinkStick 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter, which plugs into one of two USB ports on the set. You set it up just as you would any other wireless adapter, finding your home network and inputting your password or security key. The only downside: it takes a while once you turn the TV on for the adapter to find and reconnect to your network. Sometimes, I’ll jump into an app only to be told I don’t have Internet connectivity. In a minute or two, it returns, but it’s irritating.

The apps are a mixed bag. For example, there’s a nicely designed Twitter app, but trying to post updates via the TV remote is a pain, and there’s no way to click on links in tweets. In addition, you don’t sign into Twitter through the Twitter client, but rather through a login manager attached to your Samsung account.

There’s a Google Maps app, but there’s no way to email a location or directions, and Street View – which would be awesome on an HDTV – isn’t included.

And as far as I can tell, there’s no Web browser app. What’s up with that, Samsung?

But the two apps I want the most – Netflix and Amazon on Demand – are excellent. The Netflix app lets you scroll through your Watch Instantly queue or search for new items to watch. The Amazon app also works well, though it’s a little hard to find. It’s actually part of a set of widgets offered by Yahoo, which are very similar to the old Yahoo Widgets for PCs and Macs.

I’m still exploring the Samsung apps – there even some that are paid – and I’ll likely do another post once I’ve mastered them. But so far, I’ve gotten a lot more than I’ve bargained for with this new HDTV.

48 Responses

For your U-Verse box, switch to the component cables. I think – but I”m not sure – that this will allow the U-Verse box to translate the images to analog. However, regardless of the magic involved, your picture will be much better.

I’m disappointed in this as well, particularly when the AppleTV manages to put a much better picture on the screen through an HDMI cable using Netflix.

The bad signal is coming from AT&T, everything is completely digital, it’s IPTV. If you switch to component cables you would just end up (very slightly) blurring the tv, which has nothing to do with the pixelation issues due to compression.

Yep, I ordered the HD package on Tuesday evening via the Web; the channels were available immediately. As I wrote, I’ve seen this same poor quality image in Ma Bell 2.0’s own stores, so I know it’s not just me.

Not interested in a Blu-ray player, but plan to check out 1080i video offered by the Vudu streaming service, which is one of the apps on the TV.

If you want the best HD for sports and TV shows, you need a standard OTA antenna and tune the local broadcast channels. Granted, no ESPN or other cable channels, but NFL and NBA and favorite shows are beautiful. Plus, there is no time lag, as there is with cable and satellite for locals. If you ever watch them both side by side, you can sometimes see a 3 second delay.

Yea if you want a top-quality picture, ATT U-Verse is the worst-quality service out there. If you’re going to a high-tech living room arrangement, Comcast is better. U-Verse makes lots of apologies and claims their service is as-good, but unless you have fiber-optic to the house its impossible for phone lines to be as good as Coaxial.

I could see how a Fiber Optic could be a business expense for you, though!

I agree about the OTA signal for sports, its uncompressed and consequently better.

Cogratulations on your new TV. I am certain you will continue to enjoy it.

I also have a Roku box. The recent troubles in the Arab world have shown me another great feature of that little box. Roku show a live news feed from Al Jazeera/English. Nobody is going to include Al Jazeera in a list of pro-American media, but I have found their coverage of the current troubles to be much better than that of the Western media. They offer many different points of view from experts in the Arab world, Europe and the USA. I found it very balanced. And the interviews of regular citizens in these countries are fascinating.

Ditto what Mo says – best HD signals are OTA. Cable, satellite, and IPTV all have compression of one sort or another.

I have tried component cables (at the urging of an industry professional friend) and found that I prefer the image with HDMI over that of component. However, the downside to HDMI is that the STB encryption seems to go “haywire” pretty regularly. This results in having to unplug the HDMI cable at least 2-3 times a week.

I’ve had U-verse for going on 14 months and for us it was a great improvement over DirecTV. No regrets on the switch (I was a DTV customer for 12 years).

@Justin: I understand it’s digital all the way to the box. I’m just relaying my own experience. I’ve got U-Verse with HD service. I had good picture quality using component cables. When I switched to HDMI, I got lousy picture quality, just as Dwight describes above. After going back to the component cables, I’m back to a clear picture.

Congratulations on the new television. I use UVerse strictly for the Internet. I prefer OTA and you use your favorite store Frys and get the price guarantee. I still use DTV, but I am a football junkie and only DTV provides the NFL Ticket. You can do the next best thing and use the antennae that you have for your laptop or computer and stream to your TV. Take the plunge and run the enthernet cable.

Sorry to hear about your U-Verse connection — of course, my experience was from a couple of years back (I’m currently one of the cut the cable people), so maybe U-Verse isn’t all it’s cut out to be now-a-days.

Also, sorry to hear your opinion on Blu-Ray — just wonderful to purchase a sports car and only use it to go to church on Sunday. Like reviewing things with blinders on. Go figure.

It’s a big leap. When I went to a 50″ HDTV a couple of years ago, I only had antenna at the time. Since then, I’ve added a second TV, 300 channels of cable, Netflix upgrades to two movies and HD, HD access on cable, On Demand, etc, etc, etc…they should just give the TVs away, they’d sell 10X entertainment. In the end I likely save money as I stay home more. One more thing, you can hook your computer up to it too man.

As we’ve discussed before, I’m of the belief that physical media’s days are numbered. I’m not interested in putting a lot of stock in something that I think is going to be Betamaxed real soon now.

That said, I probably WILL get a Blu-ray player at some point if only because our current DVD player doesn’t upconvert to 1080, and we have a small but valued collection of DVDs. I’ll sample Blu-ray then. I may also review Internet-enabled Blu-ray players.

I think the idea the physical media’s days are numbered is pretty off base. Streaming media simply can’t match the bit-rates needed to bring the high quality image of Blu-Ray (and eventually 2K and 4K). This is mainly a provider issue in that our internet connections just can’t handle the throughput. But if you want the highest quality picture, you’re not going to get it without the use of physical media.

When I purchased my new television, I was unsure whether to go with LCD or Plasma. Well, I chose Plasma, and couldnt be happier. I know that the longevity id shorter for Plasma, but the color is so much better than LCD. So, I must ask you guys,,,,PLasma or LCD?

(I understand there is now LED which beats them all, but for now, I’ll stick with my Plasma.

If you have an iphone, ipad, or ipod touch, download the free Samsung App. It turns your idevice into a remote. The advantage of using your idevice over the Samsung remote is that it gives you a full keyboard so when you want to search youtube or netflix or whatever, you don’t have to hunt and peck witht the Samsung remote. BTW, love my Samsung tv.

Bought an LG with built in ethernet last December. I love it. Besides the ability to update the TV software/firmware I can view stuff directly from my computer. Also love being able to view my Picasa account over the TV. I can set up a slide show of my vacation photos to view directly on the TV. Isn’t technology great?

Dwight – I can appreciate your desire to ditch the disk. That’s clearly where everything is headed. But right now, it’s just not cost-effective. For just a little more than the price you pay for 2 Vudu HD movies, you can get a month of Netflix, including streaming, plus Blu-ray and regular DVDs in the mail. Blu-ray players are cheap now, so don’t throw money away just to stand on principle.

I’ve had u-verse for about a year now and while I am happy with all the extra’s that u-verse provides, I am not happy with the actual HD service. Picture quality is poor compared to Comcast and the ability to only receive one HD signal at a time is frustrating. I am considering switching back to Comcast, but am hesitant because of the poor customer service I received before.

Dwight, have you put together any blogs in the past regarding signal/picture quality from each provider? Such as Comcast, ATT, Satellite, etc?

Netflix really is the best thing ever. I upgraded to an hd roku player from the company at the same time i bought a new sony blueray surround sound system. Only afterward did i realize the blueray player could already do exactly what the roku box did, plus pandora,(awesome!), lots of free channels, etc. So that’s 100 bucks in added value for the blueray. (I’m sending the roku box back.) I jumped in and bought my hdtv two years ago, before the built-in channels came down in price. but i have caught up with the addition of the blueray sound system. All of it is wirelessly networked. Finally i am listening to music again! Too bad there aren’t more blueray discs yet, though.

If I’ve learned one thing in my years of covering tech, it’s this: NEVER bet against the Internet. You WILL lose.

Tim:

As I said in an earlier comment, I probably will get a Blu-ray player. But for me, convenience trumps video quality. I have no problem with the HD I’m seeing from streaming Amazon or Netflix, which aren’t 1080. It’s worth it to me to say, “Hey, let’s watch that NOW” and not have to wait for a disk to come in the mail or – horrors! – go to the movie store.

Houtexanfan:

You can actually record up to 3 HD programs and 1 SD at once (just checked with AT&T). And no, I have not done a roundup on picture quality since, um, I haven’t had an HDTV ’til now.

AT&T Uverse Forum. There is also the UVerse Realtime Stats program that runs on your PC on the same network as UVerse that can give you all sorts of useful and interesting information about your UVerse connection. If you think there’s an issue, first post your stats on the forum before calling for service. They can frequently tell you what the problem is so you can inform your sometimes-less-than-knowledgeable service tech.

There’s no doubt in my mind that UVerse picture quality is inferior to Comcast, and certainly inferior to OTA. But, it’s still quite good and for me it’s not worth switching back to Comcast.

listen to mo, phil, and others. plug in a co-ax antenna and watch some sports on local over-the-air hd channels. enjoy better picture quality for things you can get transmitted locally in hd.

of course, even though lcd/led televisions are always getting better, they are still not as good at displaying certain types of things as plasmas, or (for different reasons) crt’s. but they are better than them in other things.

i’ve got a samsung plasma, from maybe two years ago. i got it because i watch sports/movies in a dark environment, and even thought lcd/led tech is constantly improving, reasonably priced plasma beat reasonably priced lcd/led at the time for my wants/needs. it is internet-enabled, but has yahoo widgets instead of the samsung apps interface. the internet-enabled stuff is slow and clunky and mostly worthless. this was sort of samsung’s first steps into internet-enabled televisions. i’m pretty sure it’s processor wouldn’t do well with the meatier samsung apps interface (unless it’s just that the yahoo widgets code sucks).

so i have a blu-ray player that will stream netflix and pandora. and an original apple tv (to stream airtunes, mostly. apple wants way too much to rent a movie from itunes). the apple tv, blu-ray, and tv are all hooked up via ethernet cable. wireless is nice and all, but it’s way more flaky than wired and you generally don’t get the same quality/bandwidth, regardless of the claims/specs.

and you should at least try blu-ray on your tv. : ) or hook up something that has locally-cached hd instead of compressed-streamed. doing that, plus trying local hd via antenna, will show you limits of motion-reproduction on your lcd set minus any compression artifacts.

as an aside: i hate hdmi. it’s a stupid industry-designed standard, with too much complexity in the design, making it unfriendly to end users and cable-makers so content-owners could try and protect their content. let’s hope for its death.

Thanks. Yeah, on my long list of things to do with this is to try out the USB-based ability to watch video. This set also supports DLNA, and I’ve got a DLNA-capable NAS drive on my network with music and some video.

I’ve got a pretty good 802.11n router and a 16-Mbps Comcast connection, so streaming works very well. There’s a built-in connection quality test, and all indications are it’s superb.

Thanks to Tim for the ATT Uverse forum. ANYTHING is better than ATT ‘support’.

ATT has the WORST customer service out there but they have the best picture quality. I think each of our experiences is more reflective of the signal in our areas.

Dwight – are you running wireless into Uverse? On the 450 there is an ethernet port on the back that I wired into (bypassing any wireless TV connection) and it works but don’t expect help from ATT. Their level 2 support didn’t even know what 10/100 was. Their sales department will tell you you are limited to the 2/4 record/view but their techs will tell you 3/4 which is what I have. Usually its the other way around, lol.

For FWIW, borrow a BR and Avatar. If you want to know your TV’s picture capabilities, that’s a great test.

I’ve got the same TV as you (the 55″ version). Netflix movies come in crystal clear (although STARS content still looks like junk because of their upload compression). Amazon videos, however, come in at a much lower quality. Lots of macro-blocking. I understand I’m slightly limited with only 6 – 7MB down, but I can’t understand why Netflix looks great and Amazon looks so bad.

As an aside, I love watching you on TWiT; you add an interesting and informative perspective to Leo’s network whenever you’re on.

We already have all this, and have had it for several years. What’s the Hubbub? Dang man – haven’t you all ever heard of HDMI and splitters? Get yourself a decent video card and go to town. All modern TVs will act as a monitor over an HDMI cable. Dedicate a computer to entertainment… music, movies, streaming and you’re set.

streaming avi files straight off a usb thumb drive plugged into a usb port on the tv works great on my samsung plasma. a year or so ago, i was trying to rip avi’s into apple tv format, and it wasn’t working well…then i realized i might be able to put them on a usb thumb drive and play them directly on the tv, based on my tv’s features. so i’m assuming it’ll be good for you too.

i don’t do dlna, as i’ve got a bunch of apple stuff (and they don’t use dlna built-in). i’ve thought about playing with dlna, but the apple stuff “just works” (even if you’re locked in), and i’ve read enough stuff about dlna to know it’s traditionally had some compatibility/setup difficulties for some end users.

also, i’ve got 802.11n too. but connecting all my devices up wired (ran one cable from my computer area to the living room area and put a netgear 5-port gigabit switch there) has made all of the connections more stable. (stopped dropped connections, re-establishing connections, rebooting devices and/or the wireless router to make things work again, etc.) if wireless never gives you any problems, then congrats. : )

beyond that – i still suggest you watch some hd that isn’t over streaming. especially blu-ray or local ota hd broadcasts. it should have less compression, and thus perhaps less blocking / juddering / etc.

also, i have to agree with justin – stars over netflix mostly blows as far as pic quality. i hate starting a stream and seeing it is stars. in fact, the very first movie i tried with netflix streaming via my blu-ray player was _high_fidelity_, which was a stars play — i thought i’d made a horrible mistake because the pic quality looked like i was watching through dirty glasses made from the bottoms of coke bottles. once i played streams from other content distributors, i was much more pleased. (and upgraded my dsl down speed from 1.5mb to 6mb didn’t hurt either.)

I can tell you that it is fabulous here in Houston. I had a crt hdtv first and it was nice but nothing like the Sony Bravia with 120hz motion stablizing.

Now as one poster said before I could say it. Get you a Sony blueray player, and Avatar or the new Star Trek movie.

Watching a true 180p Movie will eclipse the 1080i that you get on the cable and Uverse.

Stick with the Hdmi. It is sharper than with the best of component cables and with that being an analog signal that has to be reconverted back to digital in the set, you can skip that step by staying in the digital domain the entire path.

Also analog signals are more suseptable to effects of the quality of the cable in component cables than with Hdmi which are digital signals which are uneffected by the cable, expecially in short runs of 6ft or less. Oh yes I forgot. Sometime in the future, if you are not using Hdmi cables, then you will not be able to pass copywrited material

I haven’t noticed anyone mention this so I’ll throw it out there, Netflix streaming content sucks. Badly. Also uverse is greatly inferior to DirectTV picture-wise. If you have to even consider using something other than HDMI you should find a new provider…

Um, not sure if you actually read the entry, but this TV isn’t made by Apple (which doesn’t make TVs, yet). It’s about a 47-inch Samsung, which is a lot bigger than an iPod/iPad.

Read my subsequent comments, too, in which I explain that, yeah, I probably will end up with a Blu-ray player, but at the moment I’m valuing convenience over picture quality. (And yes, I’ve watched Blu-ray movies before, so I know what, in theory, I’m missing.)

Apple has nothing to do with my preferences (I don’t even have an Apple TV streaming device … mine’s a Roku!).

So I don’t quite see how you make the connection between Apple and my preference for the convenience of streaming media. That’s a bit of a leap…

What I find interesting – actually, a little sad – is that there seems to be yet another silly ideological tech schism, this time between those who prefer streaming content vs. those who prefer physical media. It’s as pointless as Mac vs. PC, Android vs. iOS vs. Blackberry, Vi vs. Emacs, etc.

I signed up for ATT the first week it was available in Houston back in 06 (my memory could be faulty on the year). We had a rough time for a while. We went through 4 gateways the first year. But since I got the right unit in place, we have not had a Uverse issue in years.

My parents have Comcast. They pay for HD channels, but they look terrible. ATT is better in my book.

allen: thanks for giving good reasons to hope hdmi dies. : ) hdmi is a complicated wiring system (internally, not the plugs) that creates difficulties in creating quality cable, and integrity over long runs. (think dvi with extra lines collapsed into a much smaller cable and plug.) plus so far a number of the internal wires aren’t even being used most of the time. a lot of effort, cost, and limitations for future perceived payoff…mostly for content owners.

just like they have digital audio coax, we could easily have digital video on any number of wire types — ones that aren’t more expensive to make (or are even really cheap already) and don’t have the same distance problems.

my personal hope right now is digital video/audio over standard cat-5e/cat-6/and up cabling. it’s called HDbaseT (http://hdbaset.org/). a lot of people think it has a good chance to gain traction, especially since it’s from a consortium of big players. (http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/hdmi-dead-hdbaset) who knows if it will take off of course, but talk about simplification for the end user! as well as a number of benefits — cost, distance, features, etc. (while also allowing hdcp for the content owners.)

i still think hdcp is going to be an annoying mess for end users. but maybe it’ll all work great.

cowgirl: plenty of people are “blinded” by streaming, regardless of whether they are mac/windows or “i got a whatzit kind of computer?” it’s fast, convenient, simple, no separate physical media to store, etc. like most people don’t mind having a bunch of mp3 files (at whatever bit-rate) instead of higher quality audio recording formats. also, digital copies don’t necessarily mean lower quality “streamed” video either. you can have hd-quality local ditigally-stored video. whether it’s an apple product or not. i do think dwight should try some local hd video, but that is immaterial about whether his money goes into an “iToilet” or a “winToilet” or whatever else.

i myself prefer the best, realistic-looking video with very nice audio when watching movies, but if it’s a movie i consider filler than i don’t really care about those things as much. but my filler may be your or someone else’s favorite. and vice versa. or someone may want *every* movie in hi-def. but in schism world, i fall on the side of preferring physical media — especially when that means the quality is better than the digital version.

shasta: you mean netflix picture quality? or choice? i find that the netflix hd stream quality is good – better than local dvd. when it’s not hd, it’s hit or miss — some is pretty good, some (i’m looking at you starz movies) ain’t. as far as the cable type, do you mean the source material should only come directly from an hdmi device? because my netflix comes off my blu-ray player, which is hdmi to the tv. my apple tv is also hdmi all the way. my dvd player is component, and my stupid (old) dish device is composite rca (and can’t do hd anyway).

dwight: i wouldn’t say the schism is pointless — just poorly framed and reasoned judgements of the view(s) of the other side(s). there are real value differences that do matter. but like in mac/pc/linux, mp3/cd/vinyl, etc. (or any other similar disagreements) usually one side doesn’t see the other side’s position as valid (and usually they account this to ignorance, brainwashing, pure evil, etc). if you consider these tech schims pointless, you might as well call pretty much all opinions pointless. they’re not pointless, they’re just unresolvable because there isn’t only one valid answer in most cases (they depend on your framework and basic assumptions). thus, tech religious wars.

except that vi is definitely superior to bloated emacs. and blackberry is outdated and probably won’t catch up, and macs are a better end user experience on top of a better operating system than windows. oh, and mp3s are okay, but other formats are a better choice for music you care about. coke is better than pepsi. rc and dr. pepper are also better than pepsi. levis are better than wranglers. my hometown is better than yours.

if we didn’t have varying opinions, the internet would be about 26 pages and would fit on a single cd. (okay, maybe dvd with modern html formatting and some audio/images/video of basic science — because everyone agreed we should add those.) where’s the fun in that? : )

‘…is that there seems to be yet another silly ideological tech schism, this time between those who prefer streaming content vs. those who prefer physical media … It’s as pointless…’

You just don’t seem to get it — simple math:

30GB in 2 hours (typical HD 1080p movie)

(30,000,000,000 x 8) / (2x60x60x1,000,000) = 33 Mbps

Your current Comcast subscription does NOT deliver the required bandwidth. Even if you had internet subscription that provided that bandwidth — NONE of the common streaming services provide that bandwidth. So while you can pontificate on the ‘future’ all you want with the internet — it is not here NOW. I suppose you are also giving up your car while you wait for the hovercar.

Of course, if your eyes cannot see the difference — then it probably is pointless to you as you’re not seeing a better picture anyway.

@phliKtid: HDMI works great for me right now. For the future, I’m looking at DisplayPort over HDbase T.

I suppose you are also giving up your car while you wait for the hovercar.

No, I’m pretty much driving a tricked-out Prius rather than a BMW, and am quite happy doing so (given that I just upgraded from a Chevy!).

It’s not that I don’t “get it”, it’s that – as I said repeatedly – at the moment I value convenience over ultimate picture quality. The picture quality I am getting is pretty dang good, so I don’t feel like I’m being deprived of much.

And I also think that, sooner than you think, we’ll have highest-def video over the Net. As I said to Micheal Koby in an earlier comment, I’ve learned to NEVER bet against the Internet.

I recall debates in the 90s – when postage-stamp video was the norm – in which people said the Net would never replace TV. In fact, I was one of those pooh-poohing it. I was wrong.

nowhining: i use hdmi cables as well, they are currently the best quality input/output available on most devices. (although i also use dvi and displayport). but that doesn’t mean hdmi cabling is well-conceived or well-designed. displayport is gaining some ground also, specifically on computers. but hdbaset seems pretty cool, and offers some better features than either of those.

hdbaset is not just running current video standards over cat cabling (which people do these days) — it is a competing standard, to replace both hdmi and displayport. (well, it still has hdmi chips inside the hardware, but the physical connect layer and features via play5 are different.) you’ll actually have an rj-45 jack in the back of your devices that delivers video, audio, internet, and even power. it is designed from the ground up to be a networked a/v solution, to deliver uncompressed hd video (handling 1080i, 1080p, 3d, and the coming 2k and 4k), to offer power-over-ethernet (so you don’t even have to plug in devices with a separate power plug), up to 100m runs over cat5e/6 (4 or 5 times the length of hdmi and displayport), etc. plus your devices are all interconnected, allowing you to watch one dvd source on multiple tvs, etc. — all on standard low-cost cat5e/6 cables/wiring.

in short, i think it sounds pretty cool. referring to all a/v, not just computers. with computers of course, there is also the over-the-horizon lightpeak, which could be pretty nice (and since it’s optical, possibly have much more room for bandwidth growth).

the only reason you’d need displayport over hdbaset was if you had devices that didn’t have hdbaset connectors on them but had displayport connectors (because they are older, or never have put an hdbaset jack in — like a lot of new and upcoming computers, perhaps), and wanted some of the benefits hdbaset offers with your hdbaset-enabled devices. then you could buy an hdbaset dongle. (perhaps that’s what you were referring to.)

Glad to hear you have a car instead of waiting for some ‘future’ tech form of transportation. Don’t cha’ think you just might want to use the same philosophy with established technology — oh wait, you did just upgrade to an lcd TV — nevermind, we’ll get you up to speed yet.